The key announcements are:
 

• From 15 July 2020 to 12 January 2021, to support businesses and jobs, the reduced (5%) rate of VAT will apply to supplies of accommodation and admission to attractions across the UK. Further guidance on the scope of this relief will be published by HMRC in the coming days
• From 15 July 2020 to 12 January 2021, to support businesses and jobs in the hospitality sector, the reduced (5%) rate of VAT will apply to supplies of food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés and similar premises across the UK. Further guidance on the scope of this relief will be published by HMRC in the coming days.
• The government will introduce the Eat Out to Help Out scheme to encourage people to return to eating out. This will entitle every diner to a 50% discount of up to £10 per head on their meal, at any participating restaurant, café, pub or other eligible food service establishment.

The survey of more than 100 independent pubs, cafes, restaurants and event caterers has revealed that at least 30,000 job losses are expected in the sector and nearly half of these have already happened. Just to put this in context - and this is not a case of pitting one sector against another - for illustrative purposes this represent 20 times the proposed losses at Airbus.
 
The survey was carried out by the Welsh Independent Restaurant Collective on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July and came as pubs, cafes and restaurants reopened in England with Wales remaining the only UK nation yet to give a date for inside opening. The survey showed that the 102 businesses that responded have together already shed 434 jobs with a further 452 planned giving a total of 886 job losses from just that sample.
 
The Group stated 'We understand that Welsh Government doesn’t have the power to control the key levers of the economy and in that respect we ask them to redouble their efforts with UK Government on issues such as furlough, VAT and sharing of the rent burden. At the same time we are pressing Welsh Government to understand the catastrophic collapse that is already happening and direct more of the resources that they do have to its survival. We have often stated that it is our belief that working together with Welsh Government and others we can be creative in meeting the formidable challenge that faces us and we expect to come forward with proposals in that respect later in the week'.
 
'As a collective, we have since our inception just a month or so ago, been consistently warning of the cost to the economy, jobs and livelihoods of a failure to set a clear path to reopening. We are used to making our own way and we don’t expect indefinite support. We also understand that we must shoulder much of the burden - but we urge the First Minister once again to reflect on the scale of collapse in our sector, to urgently give us a date for reopening inside and to work with us to consider innovative ways of getting emergency support to our sector and the large community of Welsh businesses that rely upon its survival'.

The Welsh Government has published a very outline timetable for reopening which in brief:
​

• If the requirement to stay local is lifted on 6 July, outdoor visitor attractions will be able to reopen on that date
• Subject to a review of coronavirus regulations on 9 July, self-contained accommodation can open on the 11 July
• Subject to the above, the hospitality sector will re-open outdoors from 13 July
• No dates have been set for reopening indoor hospitality facilities other than self-catering

 
https://gov.wales/timetable-phased-reopening-tourism-sector

 The WTA welcomes the greater clarity given last night on what can be opened on the 13th July. For details follow the Welsh Government link.
 However, it is all subject to whether secondary rates rise or not, as we have seen with regard to Leicester, there could be further localised lockdowns subject to the R value and virus transmission.

This does though confirm that accommodation with kitchen, bath/shower and WC facilities which are used only by the customer is considered to be “self-contained” and so able to reopen on 13 July. The guidance, states:

• ‘accommodation that is entirely self-contained (e.g. self-catering cottages, apartments, etc.)
• Glamping or any other accommodation with en-suite shower/bath, WC and kitchen facilities
• Holiday caravans (statics and twins, including those marketed as lodges but constructed to the statutory definition of a caravan) where they have their own on-board shower/bath, WC and kitchen facilities
• Seasonal touring caravans, motorhomes and campervans (with agreement to remain on pitch) where they have their own on-board shower, WC and kitchen facilities
• Touring caravans, motorhomes and campervans where they have their own on-board shower, WC and kitchen facilities

 
Caravan and touring sites will need to ensure the strict application of industry guidance on shared waste disposal and water points.
 
All shared facilities, aside from water and disposal points will remain closed including toilets, shower blocks, laundry, restaurants, nightclubs, swimming pools, children’s play areas, bars, cafes, etc. Accommodation can only be let to members of the same household. 

 Local councils across Wales will be being vigilante so it will be important to ensure your Risk Assessments are written down, filed and readily available for possible spot checks and that all COVID-19 secure procedures are in place.
 
From tomorrow tourism businesses across Wales can register on the “We’re Good To Go”: https://goodtogo.visitbritain.com/home.
 

The English Tourism Alliance has had a response from DCMS for guidance on what happens if a guest exhibits Coronavirus symptoms while staying in tourism accommodation. The good news is that rather than being told to self-isolate in place the new guidance is that, as their first course of action, guests should return home. Although not in the official guidance at this stage, it is expected that guests who cannot return home will be expected to pay all costs. Extract as follows: 
 
We have worked with Cabinet Office and PHE to seek some more clarity here and our gov.uk page has been updated to say:
"If a guest is displaying signs of the Covid-19 virus while staying in overnight accommodation for a permitted reason, they should inform the accommodation provider, immediately self-isolate where they are to minimise any risk of transmission, and request a test. If they are confirmed to have Covid-19, they should return home if they reasonably can. They should use private transport but only drive themselves if they can do so safely. If a guest cannot reasonably return home (for example because they are not well enough to travel or do not have the means to arrange transport), their circumstances should be discussed with an appropriate health care professional and, if necessary, the local authority. Guests should follow government guidance on dealing with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. Once the guest has returned to their main residence, they should continue to follow the government guidance on self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing.”
 
Some points to note:

• Accommodation providers should consider how they would manage this situation, including whether symptomatic guests in self-isolation would be responsible for cleaning their own rooms and stripping/making their own beds. 
• Accommodation providers should consider how best to inform guests about their policy for Covid-symptomatic guests, for example during the booking or check-in process. 
• Where an accommodation provider has a Covid-symptomatic guest, they should discuss next steps with the guest at the earliest opportunity.
• If the guest cannot return home, the guest will be expected to pay all costs.

A Written Statement has been published (25/06/2020) in relation to the Welsh Government’s response to the Migration Advisory Committee’s Call for Evidence – Shortage Occupation List. The link to the response is attached to the Statement.
 
https://gov.wales/the-welsh-governments-response-to-the-migration-advisory-committees-call-for-evidence-shortage-occupation-list

 The WTA has engaged  on this, there will be another Migration External Stakeholder meeting in the autumn, after the MAC have submitted their findings to the UK Government (details to be announced).

The national tourist organisations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have launched a UK-wide industry standard and consumer mark to provide a ‘ring of confidence’ for tourism as the sector works towards reopening.

The ‘We’re Good To Go’ industry standard and supporting mark means businesses can demonstrate that they are adhering to the respective Government and public health guidance, have carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and checked that they have the required processes in place. The scheme is free to join and open to all businesses across the industry.

To obtain the mark businesses must complete a self-assessment through the online platform including a check-list confirming they have put the necessary processes in place, before receiving certification and the We’re Good To Go mark for display in their premises and online.

​The scheme has been developed in partnership with Tourism Northern Ireland, VisitScotland and Visit Wales to ensure a standard-led approach across the UK with input from more than 40 industry bodies including UKHospitality, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, the British Holiday & Home Parks Association, the British Beer and Pub Association and the National Caravan Council as well as destination management organisations across the country. So far over 2,800 businesses have registered on the platform to apply.

 The General Guidelines for all sectors come in two forms:

• The readiness of property Guidelines
• The Guidelines about what’s allowed - https://gov.wales/guidance-note-holiday-accommodation-owners-health-protection-coronavirus-restrictions-wales

 
The Readiness of Property Guidelines in General: These set the framework, from the Health and Safety Executive and others but in short, this has been outsourced to industry to provide the details. UKHospitality took the lead and co-ordinated all the sector specifics.  PASC UK, the ASSC (Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers) and Premier Cottages co-ordinated this work for self-catering, and had additional input from The Wales Association of Self-Caterers, the Tourism Alliance, Wales Tourism Alliance and the Scottish Tourism Alliance.

Self Catering Protocols: To qualify the protocols and guidelines needed to be checked (but not underwritten in any way) by both HMG and Visit Britain. The joint protocols and guidelines went through this process and comments made were incorporated. Cleaning Protocols specifically for Self Catering can be downloaded below.This is in terms of the cleaning and property preparation. What may change will be things like the Health Questionnaire being sent to guests. This was on V1 of the Risk Assessment, but is no longer required, so not in Version 2 which is the version on the website. We are also lobbying with our partners to remove anything unnecessary. The Self Catering Protocols which WTA have inputted into can be therefore be downloaded from the PASC website via this link: 

https://426dad06-dd67-4020-82b8-e449f800e1b5.filesusr.com/ugd/e7cf6d_42ffcdd098394d34b51b2d8c23276553.pdf